Drove to Cooke City, MT on 28 Aug 08 and stayed at Soda Butte Lodge. Charming/outdated/needs work - but only a few miles from the trailhead. Drove to trailhead on 29 Aug 08 - and began hiking up to Rough Lake at 9:00 am. Arrived at Rough Lake at 3:00 p.m., and we camped at far north east end of the lake. 30 Aug we left camp at 6:40 am, and mostly stayed left for all the Sky Top Lakes - hit Sky Top Glacier Basin at 10:30 am. Small delay on a very steep snow field at the edge of one of the lakes - icy in the am - and so we hiked up and over. Summited at 12:30 p.m. Met a couple others coming up from Froze to Death. Hiked out on the 31st and stayed a second night in Cooke City.

Hike up the couloir was interesting. Some descent upclimbs - but the exposure is definitly much better than on the other side. Happy to provide additional information if you need it.

started from East Rosebud trailhead, ran to Echo lake, bushwhacked up to Lowary Lakes, climbed the standard route, then came off via FTD plateau and the Phantom Lake approach. It was a long day, especially when my buddy got altitude sickness about halfway through the 30 mile day.

Route was in good shape with no significant ice in the couloir. We had a heck of a time interpreting trailhead directions to get to Lady of the Lake which took up some time on day one. After that, it was fairly straightforward.

Our trip was: Day 1: Get lost, but eventually end up at Lone Elk Lake (great campsite at NW end of lake) by 5 pm; Day 2: Summit and on the way back to camp, explore ridge above Rough Lake (beautiful mountain playground up there); Day 3: Hike out via Shelter Lake (another amazing area) and then back into Skytop drainage. The only gear we had besides backpacking stuff was helmets.

Hiked in via Sky Top Creek with 2 friends and camped at the first Sky Top lake. Started late an ended up reaching the top a couple hours before dark. We ended up getting down just before sunset and waiting out night on the plateau rather than break our legs on the boulder field. Hiked out the next morning. I am not sure that any "agile dog" could climb this route with exception to underdog.

Hiked in with my girlfriend via Sky Top Creek and camped at Lone Elk Lake. I soloed the route from there. Didn't see a soul between Lone Elk and the summit. The route was pretty straightforward but there was one choke in the couloir that was covered in verglas and pretty unnerving. I was surprised to find 7 people on the summit, including a group from Billings doing some survey work. Amazing weather, not a hint of clouds or wind.

approached from rosebud, quick and dirty, made camp by bivy on the col...not much water...summitted following day by 7:30am via 5.7 direct to the keyhole. Awesome climbing just wish it was longer! went out by huckleberry, rough boulder hopping...felt like more miles over boulders than over trail! Awesome mountain to be Montana's highest!

Great 2-day climb from West Rosebud roadhead. Crossed Froze-to-Death Plateau early to beat the afternoon showers. Made high camp by 1 p.m. in a bivy spot at the base of a snow field...good water source there and it accomidated 6 tents. It started raining about 4 p.m.. Two more climbing parties showed up while we were eating dinner. Early to bed for a 4:30 a.m. start. Two rope teams of two. My partner and I climbed the 5.7 Keyhole Chimney which was super fun but only about 30-40 feet of roped climbing, the rest we just scrambled. Our other party roped up for a few short pitches on the 5.4 Standard Route. Made the summit my 8:30 a.m and it was a beautiful day. For the descent we only rapped one chimney and down climbed the rest. Made it back to high camp by noon, had lunch, packed up our tents and headed for the roadhead. Made it down to the parking area about 6:00 p.m. with a few light sprinkles near the end. Very enjoyable climb.

The approach up west rosebud to the east ridge is essentially snow-free (or snow is easily avoidable). The infamous and highly over-rated snow bridge is about 20 feet across; we took boots, crampons, and a picket, none of which we used. Enjoy!

Day 1:Climbed up switchbacks above Mystic Lake to base of Froze to Death Plateau. Day 2:Hiked across FTD Plateau to high camp. Wind tried to tear our tents down all night. Day 3:Weather looked nasty. High winds and rain. Waited an hour and made breakfast and then made a summit bid. Left at 7:00 AM. Weather improved as we climbed and we made the summit at about 11:30 AM. We rappeled down 3 pitches on the way down. It was a classic climb and perhaps the most difficult one ever for this Highpointer. Day 4:Hiked all the way out from high camp. A great 4 days with Tim, Jeffrey, Ben, Kathryn, and Nate. Ben bagged State highpoint #48 and Tim HP #47 on the trip! Had a celebratory beer at the Grizzly Bar in Roscoe, MT on the way back to Cody. HP #35 for me.

After resting from a grueling 5 day trip to Gannett Peak, my brother and I left the Granite trailhead at 1:30PM and reached the first bivy site on the Froze to Death plateau at 7:30. The next morning we hiked to the 12,000' tent site, had lunch, and took a nap. The weather was so perfect, we decided to summit that afternoon, reaching it in 3.5 hours at 5PM. Thankfully we invested in carrying our crampons and ice axes! As novice technical rock climbers, we opted to scramble up and down as we had the mountain to ourselves.

Great climb. Tent flattening wind. Be sure to do your business well below the tent/water collection area!!!!! It's getting a little weird up there. PS--there is a full size shovel behind that great big rock to the south.

CLIMBED VIA FROZE TO DEATH PLATEAU WITH LINDA SOPER, LARRY HILLER, VERN INGRAHAM, PETER YERGER AND AL HOFMEISTER. TERRIFIC STORM THE FIRST NIGHT FLATTENED MY TENT BUT FOR HOLDING THE ROOF UP WITH MY KNEES! MARMOTS ATE THEIR WAY INTO PETERS NEW TENT TO GET AT GARBAGE SCRAPS SACK